Editing Chestnut (section)

==== North America ====
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were eating the American chestnut species, mainly ''C. dentata'' and some others, long before European immigrants introduced their stock to America, and before the arrival of [[chestnut blight]].<ref name=peggy/> In some places, such as the [[Appalachian Mountains]], one-quarter of [[hardwood]]s were chestnuts. Mature trees often grew straight and branch-free for {{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=on}}, up to {{nowrap|100 ftm}}, averaging up to {{nowrap|5 ft}} in diameter. For three centuries, most [[barn]]s and homes east of the [[Mississippi River]] were made from it.<ref name=salem>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130104141146/http://www.salemboard.com/furniture/conservation.php American Chestnut Restoration]}}. Salem Board & Beam.</ref> In 1911, the food book ''[[The Grocer's Encyclopedia]]'' noted that a cannery in Holland included in its "vegetables-and-meat" ready-cooked combinations, a "chestnuts and sausages" casserole beside the more classic "beef and onions" and "green peas and veal". This celebrated the chestnut culture that would bring whole villages out in the woods for three weeks each autumn (and keep them busy all winter), and deplored the lack of food diversity in the United States's shop shelves.<ref name="grocer"/>

Soon after that, however, the American chestnuts were nearly wiped out by chestnut blight. The discovery of the blight fungus on some Asian chestnut trees planted on [[Long Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]], was made public in 1904. Within 40 years, the nearly four billion-strong American chestnut population in North America was devastated;<ref name="acfh">[http://www.acf.org/history.php The American Chestnut Foundation – Mission & History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516030808/http://acf.org/history.php |date=2008-05-16 }}.</ref> only a few clumps of trees remained in Michigan, Wisconsin, [[California]], and the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref name=peggy/> Due to disease, American chestnut wood almost disappeared from the market for decades, although quantities can still be obtained as [[reclaimed lumber]].<ref name=edlin>''Trees, Woods and Man''. By H.L. Edlin. New Naturalist. 1970. {{ISBN|0-00-213230-3}}.</ref> Today, they only survive as single trees separated from any others (very rare), and as [[living stump]]s, or "stools", with only a few growing enough [[Shoot (botany)|shoot]]s to produce seeds shortly before dying. This is just enough to preserve the genetic material used to engineer an American chestnut tree with the minimal necessary genetic input from any of the disease-immune Asiatic species. Efforts started in the 1930s are still ongoing to repopulate the country with these trees, in [[Massachusetts]]<ref name=rhys>{{cite web |url=http://www.wbur.org/news/2008/78764_20080718.asp |title=The American Chestnut Returns |publisher=By Fred Thys, for WBUR news. |date=July 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105054345/http://www.wbur.org/news/2008/78764_20080718.asp |archive-date=2009-01-05 |url-status=dead |access-date=2008-08-08 }}</ref> and many places elsewhere in the United States.<ref name="acf">[http://www.acf.org/ American Chestnut Foundation].</ref> In the 1970s, geneticist [[Charles Burnham (geneticist)|Charles Burnham]] began back-breeding Asian chestnut into American chestnut populations to confer blight resistance with the minimum difference in genes.<ref name=Atlantic>{{cite journal|last1=Cummer|first1=Korby|title=A New Chestnut|journal=The Atlantic|date=June 2003|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/a-new-chestnut/302742/|access-date=21 September 2015}}</ref> In the 1950s, the Dunstan chestnut was developed in Greensboro, N.C., and constitutes the majority of blight-free chestnuts produced in the United States annually.

Today, the demand for the nut [[Supply and demand|outstrips supply]]. The United States imported 4,056 metric tons of European in-shell chestnuts worth $10 million in 2007.<ref name=geisler>[http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/nuts/chestnuts/ Agricultural Marketing Resource Center: ''Chestnuts'']. By Malinda Geisler, content specialist, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University. Revised May 2008.</ref> The U.S. chestnut industry is in its infancy, producing less than 1% of total world production. Since the mid-20th century, most of the US imports are from [[Southern Italy]], with the large, meaty, and richly flavored [[Sicily|Sicilian]] chestnuts being considered among the best quality for bulk sale and supermarket retail. Some imports come from Portugal and France. The next two largest sources of imports are China and South Korea.<ref name=geisler/> The French [[variety (botany)|varieties]] of ''marrons'' are highly favored and sold at high prices in [[gourmet]] shops.<ref name=veg/> As of 2024, the United States imports 7.5 million pounds of non-organic chestnuts per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/first-generation-farmer-finds-market-chestnuts-19774190.php|website=Times Union.com|title=First-generation farmer finds a market for chestnuts|first=Kelsey|last=Brown|date= 21 September 2024|access-date=21 September 2024}}</ref>

A study of the sector in 2005 found that U.S. producers are mainly part-timers diversifying an existing agricultural business, or hobbyists.<ref name=umca>{{Cite web |url=http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/pubs/chestnutmarketreport.pdf |title=University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, 2005 – This report describes findings from a 2004 nationwide survey of the U.S. chestnut market. |access-date=2008-08-14 |archive-date=2008-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910104812/http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/pubs/chestnutmarketreport.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another recent study indicates that investment in a new plantation takes 13 years to break even, at least within the current Australian market.<ref name="laren60">[http://www.chestnutsaustralia.com.au/content/view/25/60/ ''Chestnut production''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719110311/http://www.chestnutsaustralia.com.au/content/view/25/60/|date=2008-07-19}}. By David McLaren. Written from ''The Chestnut Growers Information Book'', for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999 for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999.</ref> Starting a small-scale operation requires a relatively low initial investment; this is a factor in the small size of the present production operations, with half of them being between {{convert|3|and|10|acre|m2}}. Another determining factor in the small productivity of the sector is that most orchards have been created less than 10 years ago, so have young trees which are as now barely entering commercial production.<ref name=umca/> Assuming a {{convert|10|kg|adj=mid|abbr=on}} yield for a 10-year-old tree is a reliable conservative estimate, though some exceptional specimens of that age have yielded {{convert|100|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref name=laren60/> So, most producers earn less than $5,000 per year, with a third of them not having sold anything so far.<ref name=umca/>

Moreover, the plantings have so far been mostly of Chinese species, but the products are not readily available.<ref name=umca/> [[The American Chestnut Foundation]] in collaboration with many partners ([[State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry|SUNY ESF]], the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and many others from education, research, and industry sectors contributing to the program) are in the last stages of developing a variety that is as close as possible to the American chestnut, while having incorporated the blight-resistant gene of the Asiatic species.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Darling 58 |url=https://tacf.org/darling-58/ |access-date=2023-08-25 |website=The American Chestnut Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> Considering the additional advantage that chestnut trees can be easily grown organically,<ref name=umca/> and assuming the development of brands in the market and everything else being equal, home-grown products would reach higher prices than imports,{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} the high volume of which indicates a market with expanding prospects.<ref name=umca/> As of 2008, the price for chestnuts sold fresh in the shell ranges from $1.50/lb ($3.30/kg) wholesale to about $5/lb ($11/kg) retail, depending mainly on the size.<ref name=geisler/><ref name=umca/>